uly 28, 2000, A National
Airlines Boeing 757 was stormed by a gunmen at New York's John F. Kennedy
International Airport Thursday night. The gunman, Aaron Amartei Commey
held the pilot and copilot hostage throughout the night along with 143
passengers. Anthony W. Koncel, a pilot with 30 years of experience, was settling
in at the instrument panel preparing for another run of National
Airlines Flight 19 from New York to Las.

The gunmen walked through airport
security setting off the airports medal detector ran on to the plane with
a 10 millimeter handgun and a knife. JFK's Port Authority Police were called
in an a hostage negotiator, Detective Sgt. Daniel Karas took command. Ironically
the detector along with fellow officers were celebrating his last day on
the job. The gunmen released the captain shortly after midnight to convey
a message to the authorities that he wished to meet a representative of
the Argentine consulate. The hostage takeover ended shortly
after the gunmen released the copilot. A United States Marine was on board,
when the gunmen released the copilot, the Marine managed to shut the gunman
in the cockpit. At which point the passengers were able to escape from
the aircraft this morning about 4 am. No one was hurt and the gunmen surrendered
to the police.